Developing critical skills in the age of information overload: techniques for helping students sift through vast amounts of information online / Noorliza Zainol ... [et al.].

Critical thinking, defined as the ability to actively and skilfully conceptualize, apply, analyse, synthesize, and evaluate information to make reasoned judgments, is a vital skill for students in this digital milieu. The explosion of digital information has transformed how students access knowledge, forming both opportunities and challenges in education. With the rapid proliferation of digital content, students face a constant influx of information such as access to a vast knowledge repository. Students encounter an overwhelming quantity of data, making it difficult to process and evaluate, leading to what is commonly referred to as "information overload”. Information overload can impede students’ critical thinking ability, as they struggle to discern reliable and relevant information from unreliable sources. Nevertheless, without proper control, with the propagation of online data, half-truth, and biased content, educators face the challenge of preparing students to filter through this massive information landscape.